Is sharing his story and remembering a friend who didnt make it out alive. Nbc bay areas jean spoke with him just an hour ago. What happened there . This san bruno man is feeling lucky to be home with his family tonight. His friend didnt survive their weekend fishing trip to the islands. Right after we stopped the boat, the boat started taking on water. And within, id say, two minutes, the boat sank. Bert lerue say he and two friends launched a personal locator beacon on saturday telling the coast guard they were in trouble. And i heard the coast guard say theres bodies in the water and then the first mate handed mae life jacket. The crew, on board the kitty cat was at the fair lawns for San Francisco whale tours. They launched into rescue mode. We aggressively powered through. The swell was large, up to 18 feet. And the visibility was reduced. The fog was too thick for a coast guard helicopter rescue. The crew quickly spotted larue and dave boll yok clinging to the bottom of a boat. Do you have another life jacket . No. Conditions were challenging. We had some concerns about hypothermia and about them swimming to us in rocky conditions. Open that door. Were going to do this now. With debris from the boat in the water and possibly white sharks, captain azar maneuvered his boat next to the overturned vessel pulling the men to safety. I was just so happy to see that boat. It was like godsend them there. The joy quickly turned to sadness. Larue had to tell the true 83yearold pat booker didnt survive. It was very, very tragic. It was my one of my best friends. He was a great guy. The rescue turned to recovery. The most incredible passengers, 72 people, all those eyes looking out, someone sees the persons silhouette. Captain azar wasnt required to answer that call for help. Larue is grateful he did. I thank everybody on that boat. Tonight, the coast guard is investigating this incident. Larue says hes been on that boat many times before and he would really like to know what went wrong. Reporting live in san bruno, jeanelle, nbc news. They are back in the bay area to face homicide charges. Three drifters accused of a wild crime spree, including killing two people arrived late this afternoon. You see them there in those jumpsuits. The trio arrested in portland last week. All three suspects will face charges for the shooting death of a canadian backpacker and a yoga teachers from morin. Police say both victims were robbed and shot with the game gun. Marin county prosecutors say if convicted, the three suspects will face life in prison or potentially even the death penalty. It is a chilling find, a hiker discovers a human skull and tonight that skull had investigators searching the area well into the evening. The skull was found this evening near sherrys way. The we have the latest. Did they find anything else that you know . Not that we know of, jessica. But tonight, a sheriffs deputy is guarding this site, onlying allowing people who live in the area in. Investigators wrapping up their search a few hours ago near the area where the skull was found. The closest we are allowed to the search in the Santa Cruz Mountains where the human skull was found is from our chopper this evening. They arrived on scene, they confirmed that it was a human skull. We pulled out our homicide detectives, our csi team and our search and rescue team. The Santa Clara County sheriffs deputy set up a tent and teams of investigators searching a wide area looking for body parts that could be associated with the skull. As they search, they are only allowing People Living in the area to get anywhere close. Not usually what we find here. We find animals, but not people. Were trying to look at any leads and any investigation we can and any evidence that they can find out there. Evidence that can connect this gruesome discovery with unsolved crimes. One example is morgan hill teenager sierra lamar. She has been missing for three years now. Sheriffs deputies say right now theres no way of knowing if the skull belongs to a man, woman or child. Its a tragic event and we hope that it is sierra lamar so we can give closure to the family, but we dont know right now. All we have is a human skull. Investigators are not ruling out the possibility that that skil skull could belong to a native american burial site. We dont know if or when the Coroners Office will be able to identify the skull. Reporting live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, im cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. It feels like summer with this hot weather, and it comes with a fire danger. So far, nearly 200 acres have burned. This fire started around 4 00 this afternoon and kwiekly spread. So far at this late hour, zero percent containment, but we should add no injuries or homes threat. Inged. Stuck in traffic at this time, not just a headache for commuters. Our growing traffic problem in the bay area is a serious concern for first responders. Tonight, a well known local fire chief is blaming urban designers. Nbc bay areas Terry Mcsweeney joins us near the dumbarton bridge tonight. Traffic right there on the peninsula now with a dangerous twist. Absolutely. The chief of the Fire District says he has nothing against bus lanes or bike plains, but when they interfere with his crews ability to do their job, he gets angry. Frustrating. Thats how menlow park Fire Protection district chief feels when he looks at this dash cam video. Its one of his departments fire trucks trying to get to an injury accident on the dumbarton bridge recently. The truck is forced to drive past oncoming traffic for six minutes. That Center Divider looks good with the trees in it, everything else. How good does it look when somebodys house burns down because we cant get there because the treats are blocked with so much traffic. Adding different things, whether its buses or bicycles or whatever were going to do, how does that work with Emergency Response . And the answer is, most of the times those urban planners, they dont even think about that. The motorcyclist is down and not moving. Thats emergency dispatch audio from last month. A crash southbound 101 near embarcadero and menlow park fire crews couldnt get there. Its crazy. What were doing is insane, but its road design. Its social reengineering that are trying to elementary nate vehicles. The reality is, people are driving cars. Until Emergency Responders are consulted before urban design changes, the threat to Public Safety will only get worse. You have a bad day in our business, people die. After Business Hours tonight, we tried to get ahold of members of the menlow park city council, but were unable to do so. Live in menlo park, nbc bay area news. A new tool and a fight to make streets safer for pedestrians. Its a special crosswalk and light installed at the entrance of marshall caldill park. When the pedestrians push the buttons, the light turns yellow and then flashes red. However, not everyone is stopping. They dont know if they stop at the yellow or the red. City leaders are hoping drivers get used to the idea so they can install more of them. So far, 21 people were killed walking along san jose streets last year alone. There could be more victims and if so, Mountain View police want to talk to them. Officers arresting Foster Parent David Elliott earlier this month. Hes accused of molesting a 12yearold boy. His relatives live at the Mobile Home Park off moffett boulevard. The 59yearold was not a Foster Parent to the child, but to another suspectyearold b17ye away. Elliott does not have a criminal record. The warriors play their first preseason home game tomorrow night. But tonight, they made a big play for their home in San Francisco. The warriors bought a 12 acre parcel of land in the mission bay neighborhood, near at t park. The land, owned by sales force is worth backside 150 million. This deal comes just days after ucsf in the neighborhood endorsed the warriors project after reaching an agreement on traffic concerns. Now, the warriors hope to build this 1 billion privately financed water front arena by october of 2018. Into now to decision 2016 been. A live look at the wynn resort. A lot of politicians on the strip tonight. The first democratic debate is tomorrow night at the wynn. Among the five candidates, the two front runners, Hillary Clinton and vermont senator bernie sanders. Probably not the trump style sizzle of the recent republican debates. However, we should see some sparks fly. Experts say candidates will take aim at mrs. Clinton. The latest polls show that she has huge leads in key states like South Carolina and nevada. Whistle blowers dont have a fighting chance. And they suggestive of this agency. We investigate the agency thats supposed to shield workers when they report Public Safety danger. Up next, why whistle blowers say the program created to protect them does more to harm than help. And then it is the end of an era for playboy. Why you really will be reading those magazine articles. And broadcast live on periscope. How some alert viewers managed to stop a dangerous situation. And good evening. Im meteorologist jeff reniere. Were tracking two systems. Trafficking the rain chances from both of these coming up in my microclimate forecast. Whistleblowers . Federal laws are supposed to protect them from retaliation when they blow the whistle on is the government turning its back on whistle blowers . Federal law res supposed to protect them from problems when they blow the whistle on serious problems. Vicki has been investigating this issue for months. You have the new data. Whats happening to these whistle blowers . Not a whole lot. The federal whistleblower protect program is full of workers across the nation who say they have been fired for raising red flags about Public Health and safety. Critics say their reports are wall lowing in a backlog, most of them getting dismissed even when they shouldnt. Now were seeing for the first time just how often the government finds in favor of whistle blowers. From airlines to pipelines, theyre the workers on the front lines. They speak up when systems break down. The government built a safety net for whistle blowers who get fired for raising red flags about safety issues and illegal activities. Its called the Whistleblower Protection Program and its run by osha. Whistle blowers dont have a fighting chance when they through this agency. Tom has testified before congress and helped Pass National whistleblower laws. Now he helps defend employees against retaliation. The osha program has been so counterproductive that i view it as a trojan horse. Its an agency, we warn whistle blowers about. I was told by my supervisor, just conduct an interview and dismiss it. Before you knew any of the facts . Correct. Writesel blower investigator Darrel Whitman spoke out to the Investigative Unit earlier this year. He said supervisors in oshas region 9 office in San Francisco pressured investigators to close cases without proper review and dismissed complaints even when he found they had merit. Whitman pointed to the numbers in region nine. Osha found cases had merit less than 3 of the time. Is it an acceptable number to you . No, absolutely not. Now weve learned its not just region nine. The Investigative Unit crunched the numbers for all ten osha regions across the nation. They found from 2004 to 2014 the agency awarded merit to cases less than 2 of the time. About 22 of cases resulted in settlements. Osha calls those outcomes favorable to the complainant. But the numbers show osha dismissed 59 of whistleblower cases. The majority of complaints it investigated. Whats more, we found in 7 of the 22 industries protected by whistleblower laws, osha did not issue a single merit finding. Our investigation also found whistle blowers have to wait a long time for answers. Osha is supposed to complete investigations in 90 days or less. But the Agency Reports 71 of all cases failed to meet that deadline. The average time it takes osha to complete a case has increased from 98 days in 2004 to 378 days in 2014. Theres no excuse for how long the cases take. Devine says in many cases staff lack training. Osha allows companies up to a year to respond to a complain and management adds delays by reinvestigating certain cases. That time takes a toll on whistle blowers. They lose their homes and their lives are living hell. Well while osha settles. Nbc bay area has more than a dozen whistle blowers who believes osha unfairly dragged out their case. Including these men who raised complaints about Environmental Testing and air travel. Osha has acknowledged problems, a government report dating back 20 years found delays in investigating and deciding complaints and complainants did not always receive appropriate investigations. Osha leaders asked this woman to reform the agency. I think it was lip service. And that no one really had any great intention of doing anything terribly different than they already did it. Tolick says recommendations outlined in this white paper landed on deaf ears. I mean, it droves me out. She left osha with this conclusion. I think that solution is apparent, but nobody wants to do it, which is to move the entire program out of osha. Nbc bay area made requests to interview dr. David michaels, the head of osha. He declined. Instead, osha pointed us to this april memo he wroes saying we are focused on improving both the efficiently and called of our investigations. Michaels says the program reached a Record Number of merit findings in 2013, 75 out of 300. His memo concludes no one benefits if workers are silenced for sounding an alarm when they see a problem that can injure, sicken or kill someone. Dr. David michaels are giving some very inspiring speeches about his entire for this to become an effective workers right organization. So far, the rhetoric has not closed in reality. In recent years, osha has added more programs, staff and created a National Whistleblower advisory committee. The critics say Congress Needs to take this program out from under osha. Well follow those developments and let you know what happens. Valuable insight. Thank you, vicki. Now, if you have a tip for vicki or anyone in the Investigative Unit, give us a call at 888996tips. Or send vicki an email. Lets bring in our chief meteorologist, jeff ranerie. It will be hot and humid just like we had for today. Eventually, two chances of rainfall. You can get a preview of that on the scrolling sevenday forecast on the bottom of the screen. Lets take you right into tomorrow morning. Starting off with 59 in the north bay. Some areas of fog returning in 62 and patchy fog for the peninsula and 63. A few clouds in the south bay and 61 degrees. The main focus over the next 49 hours is the storm system off to the south. Its not very impressive looking. You can see its circulating well south of los angeles. But eventually that, again, will bring us the chance here of some rain. So lets take you through the forecast over the next 72 hours. And tomorrow it will be all about this area of High Pressure offshore. That will keep it hot and humid. It will mean 90s in lenon and 70s at the coastline. But then a drastic turn as we head into thursdays forecast. A system we highlighted will be moving in from the south to bring isolated showers. Keep the humidity in place and may even produce the stray lightning strike. So well have to watch out for maybe more wildfires that could be sparked on thursday. Then again, the great news is by saturdays forecast, its looking more and more likely that will have the possibility of more showers to come our way and temperatures that will drop 10 to 15 degrees cooler. Now, look, the storm is going to break up once it hits northern california, but i think well still management to squeeze out something. So lets get a look at those estimated totals. What youll find is not something that, you know, is even that great. You know, we would love to see a quarter to a half inch at this point. Its been so dry in the beginning of fall. But it only looks like trace amounts to about. 04 of an inch. Well keep a very close eye on this. We could see plenty of flukzates over the new few days. Lets take you into the microclimate forecast. Right across the south bay, not only hot, but smoke from the hollister fire may impact morgan hill. So 95. A little bit of smoke and humidity that can move in will make it uncomfortable. For San Francisco, hot for your standards, 80 expected in the missions. Still, you know, enjoyable, but not where you should be. Right here across the tri valley, unfortunate news after a hot summer. Looks like we will go to 97 degrees in livermore. Not quite that warm in oakland with 85 degrees. So as we head throughout this upcoming weekend, again, the chance here of showers on saturday and eventually some cooler weather as we head into sundays forecast. Were still looking at the october the 25th through maybe the 28th for a stronger storm. Well have to wait and see on that one. With halloween coming right up. Thanks, jeff. Still ahead, why playboy is asking center folds to put their clothes back on. The. And we have jimmy. Thanks, guys. Clive owen is my guess tonight. Its a great show. Do not change the channel. We get it. The crunchy bar was too hard. The Nature Valley crunchy bar. Still crunchy. Now easier to bite into. Sometimes you can feel the indulgence of nature. Sometimes, you can taste it. Sweet granola clusters, a touch of ooey gooey almond butter. Savory almonds, and a hint of salt. Nature valley sweet and salty bars. Now you really can read the article. Playboy saying no more to nude photos in its magazines. Founder hugh hefner is making a radical move. Playboy once had 5. 6 million subscribers back in 1975. Today, though, it is down to 800,000. The Company Admits it cannot compete with porn and nudity easily available online. It is going to redesign the magazine. It will be available next march with a more pleasing look which will showcase women in provocative poses, but dressed. There will still be a playmate of the month. Driving drunk and letting the world watch. A florida woman got behind the wheel, admittedly drunk and was broadcasting live on social media. 23yearold Whitney Beale was on periscope. Thats an app that lets you broadcast your lives. Here is a video. She says im driving home. Lets see if i get a dui. This happened over the weekend. Thankfully some people watching on periscope called 911. Not just that, they sent a link to officers so they could track her down. Those officers did track her down. She hit a curb and got a flat tire, but outside of that, no injuries or accidents. Up next, where the 49ers go from here and sa wild night in the playoffs. Stay with us. Shining, shimmering, splendid tell me, princess, now when did you last let your heart decide a whole new world welcome to aulani, travel and leisure winner for Top Family Hotel in the u. S. For special offers, visit disneyaulani. Com or call your travel agent. Good evening. Well the 49ers at Metlife Stadium last night didnt provide a much needed victory. To say the performance wasnt a step in the right direction is simply not true. Especially when looking at Colin Kaepernicks play. By far, the qbs best outing of the season. Kap with two tds and no ints, not to mention a solid Fourth Quarter drive that appeared to win the game. Jim tomschula today on his drive. Touch stretch here for the niners. And it pulls your glue. It pulls everything. And these guys, yeah, you come off the field, you want to do something good. You want to win. You want to you know, and it pulls at you. But these guys wont let it snap. May be more frustrated headed into a bye week. Sunday, the eighth Straight Loss for the denver broncos. The broncos won without even scoring an offensive touchdown. A lot of strides. I know that, you know, two and three is not what we wanted it to be. We had hopes it would be better. Its what were earned to this point. So, you know, we he a lot of football in front of us, so well focus on the road in front of us. With the diamond nlds game three dodgers and mets first postseason game ever. Bottom fourth, 73 game and its getting uglier. A threerun blast off alex wood. Mets win, 137 for a 21 series lead. Cards and cubs at wrigley field. One on for chris ryan. Crush. Tworun shot off michael waka. Chicago hits six homers, a host season record. Cubs lead that series, 21. If youre watching baseball, you missed this. Steelers and chargers. All you need to see, Fourth Quarter. Five seconds left, steelers down three. Theyre going for the win. Bell runs left and just crosses the plane. A game winner as time expires. Steelers escape with the 2420 victory. Thats it for sports. More news coming up after the break. Why let someone else have all the fun . The sometimes haphazard, never boring fun. The why cant it smell like this all the time fun. The learning the virtue of sharing fun. Why let someone else have all the fun . Thats no fun. Unleash the power of dough. Give it a pop. They loved it. The prsident crashed a wedding near san diego be careful of wedding crashers, but in this case, guess who . They loved it. The president crashing a wedding near san diego yesterday. He was just coming through. President obama happened to be golfing at the beautiful course. He walked over, shook a few hands and, yes, took pictures with the happy couple. His advice for the groom . Dont step on the brides dress during the ceremony. Good to see pup. Good night. Sdmooer steve from studio 6b in Rockefeller Center in the heart of new york city, its the tonight show starring jimmy fallon. Tonight, join jimmy and his guests clive owen, gabrielle union,